The Bet (The Bet #1)(15)

With a warm smile, Kacey embraced Bets. “I’ve missed you.”

And she had. Desperately.

Bets’s warm hand enclosed Kacey’s. She led her to the couch and began chattering about Jake.

“We just knew you two would end up together one day! Didn’t I tell you, Wescott?” She giggled and reached for her iced tea, her long red fingernails clanging against the cool glass. “Now, honey, we know that you and Jake are trying to be private about things, but… well, we would love it if you got married here!”

Kacey felt panic tighten her chest. “We would love to!” She looked to Travis for help, but his eyes had taken on that darkened hue that said he’d murder anyone who breathed in his direction. “But, you see, the thing is… We aren’t sure we’re going to get married locally. We both work so hard, and we thought maybe of just going to Vegas or something.”

“Vegas?” both parents asked. They shook their heads in unison and laughed.

“Oh honey, I forgot about your sense of humor! Why the rush? Why get married in Vegas, that is unless…” Bets looked at Kacey, her eyes squinting. Oh God. Oh no, was she thinking…

“You’re pregnant!” she shouted, nearly dropping her tea to the floor! “Oh my heavens! Oh dear me. Oh, Grandma’s going to be so delighted!”

“I’m not—” Kacey argued.

“—She’s not telling anyone yet,” Travis interrupted with a devilish smirk. “You know, the media and all that.”

“Oh, oh, oh!” Bets scurried around the room until she finally stopped in front of a few shelves. “Oh honey, don’t you remember when you and Jake used to play house? And Travis…” Bets looked at Travis and pointed. “…Didn’t you play with them? Because they needed an extra person to stand in for the…”

“Dog.” Kacey smiled at Travis and stifled a giggle. “He was our dog when we played house.”

“Oh, how nice.” Bets winked at Travis and returned to digging out scrapbooks. “I’m sure I have some pictures we can use for the wedding.”

Kacey, still trying to gain control of her panic, swallowed before asking, “Why do we need pictures?”

“You know.” Bets waved her hand in the air. “For the video montage! You have to have a video montage! They’re all the rage. You know, baby pictures, prom pictures, that sort of thing. Guests love it!”

“But what about Vegas?” Kacey asked in a hopeful voice.

“Posh.” Bets shook her head vigorously. “We’ll pay for the entire thing. And you’ll get married here, at Titus Abbey.”

“Swell,” Kacey mumbled then glared in Travis’s direction. He was gone. She leaned across the sofa and noticed him in the kitchen opening a beer. Oh, nectar of the gods! Just when she needed something strong the most, and Jake’s family thought she was pregnant.

Oh God. She was going to have to be a closet drinker. She would have to sneak down to the kitchen just to snag some tequila to numb the guilt and pain. His parents were going to kill her, and they would hate her forever. Which meant she actually had to marry him and then turn a blind eye to his inability to keep his pecker in his pants. And then she’d start hoarding and buying cats in order to fill the void in her life.

The drinking would get worse. Jake would hate her, and in a final desperate attempt to regain her youth, she’d die on the table trying to get plastic surgery.

This. Could. Not. Happen!

“I, uh, I’m going to see what Travis is up to!” Kacey bolted from her chair and ran into the kitchen.





Chapter Ten




Travis watched in amusement as Kacey continued to schmooze over the family as if she’d never left.

His own father, traitor that he was, just smiled and patted her hand continuously, like she was some sort of puppy.

Mother was even worse. At one point, he was convinced she was going to throw an actual party in honor of Kacey’s return. In a fit of pure joy, his mother had gone to the scrapbooks and pulled out every single picture of their childhood together and laid them all across the table.

Of course Jake was in every picture.

And naturally, Travis was in the background sulking.

Damn his brother. Always taking the limelight. Kacey had been his and never Travis’s. With a growl that was unfortunately out loud, Travis walked into the kitchen and grabbed an ice cold beer from the fridge. His parents, anticipating their arrival, had stocked the house with snacks — and enough alcohol to get wasted for a year.

Which actually sounded like quite the idea after all. He was stuck at this God-forsaken house until the whole escapade was over. And with the way things looked, Jake wasn’t going to be hanging out much, not with all that was going on at work.

Travis, being the responsible one that he was, had given the ranch hand a bonus to hire some extra high schoolers over the course of the summer, giving him more time with his parents and his grandmother — who, at this very minute, looked the peak of health.

“Grandma? Should you be out of bed?” Travis squinted at his tiny grandmother. Color had returned to her face, and she looked ready to go golfing. According to the doctor she was supposed to be taking it easy. After all, a mini-stroke was still a stroke.